Doug Beck

Doug is a senior fellow at Yale’s Jackson School of Global Affairs and the University of Tokyo, as well as a member of McKinsey’s Geopolitics Advisory Council. From 2023 to 2025, he served as director of the Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Unit, reporting directly to two secretaries of defense, and he was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Previously, he was a vice president at Apple, reporting to its CEO, Tim Cook, from 2009 to 2013. He led Apple’s businesses in Northeast Asia and the Americas, geographies representing roughly half of Apple’s revenue. He has served as Charles Schwab’s chief strategy officer and as a partner at McKinsey.

Beck is a Navy Reserve captain and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and he has served extensively throughout Asia. He serves as a trustee of the Rhodes Trust and as a member of the Center for a New American Security Board. He holds a B.A. from Yale and M.Phil. in international relations from Oxford, where was a Rhodes Scholar.